Cartoon Heart Valentines Box DIY

Ok, so Valentine's Day is over for another year and I'm a little behind with posting this DIY, but rather than think of it as being late, let's call this post inspiration for next year, shall we?

This Valentine's Day I'm down to just one kid celebrating with their class. That means less work for me, but it was also quite the downer knowing that my years of helping the kids with creative projects is coming to an end. Only three more years of class Valentines left. 

This year we kept the valentines themselves quite simple. Mathilde handed out packs of Pocky with a simple label saying "Valentine, let's stick together". Get it? Pocky sticks? You can find the template for the labels here. We did put a bit more effort into the Valentines Box though.

Mathilde has been quite enamored with the cartoon style cakes that have been all over social media lately. You know the type - they're brightly colored with black outlines that give the impression of a two dimensional cartoon when view from certain angles. Luckily she wanted her Valentines box to look like a two dimensional cartoon rather than a cake - which would've been much more time consuming to create. Ooh... a cake Valentines box would be pretty cool though, right?

Valentine Bead Hearts

Looking for a last minute valentine idea?

This one is super simple, takes little time to make and I've got a free printable template for you.

Oh, and it's fun to make too!

Valentine Heart Sun Catchers

Last Friday Ava had the day off school so we took it as an opportunity to do a little decorating for Valentine's Day. We made red and pink, sparkly heart shaped sun catchers for our windows. They are super simple to make but look really effective.

Here's a look at how we made our heart sun catchers...

Happy (Australian) Father's Day 2013

Yesterday was Father's Day number two for the year, otherwise known as Australian Father's Day. Lucky Kim gets to celebrate Father's Day twice each year (American Father's Day was back in June), while I get just one Mother's Day.

We had organised to spend the day at Lego KidsFest in San Jose so I figured that a Lego themed card would be just the thing for this Father's Day. I played around with a few different ideas (trying to write out different messages in Lego) but kept coming back to the simplicity of a Lego heart. Much easier to make than a Lego message and it ties in nicely with this year's Mother's Day cards, which you can see here.

Here's a look at our Lego inspired cards plus a few shots from our photo shoot. I really wanted to take photos up on our roof but as always the wind came out as soon as the camera did so Ava has some interesting looking hair! 

Don't "Lego" my heart!

Sparkly Crystal Pendants

Remember those Borax Crystal Snowflakes we made last week?

Well, while we were making them I started thinking about other ideas that the crystals could be used for as well as snow flake decorations. The girls loved how much the crystal sparkled so I thought they might like to have a little bit of sparkle to wear rather than just admire in a window.

Sparkly borax crystal pendant

Bead Art

Friday was one of those cool, grey Bay Area Summer days when it's nicer to spend time indoors. Ava and I made the most of the cooler weather by working on a few crafty projects.

Our main project for the day was creating designs with Perler Beads - you know those little melty tube beads that come in a huge jar in a bazillion colours. Ok, so ours were actually Ikea Pyssla beads, but they're pretty much the same thing.

Bead heart